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Interview Unlocked and Inspired: August 30, 2023 Forest City Culinary Experiences and Chef/Experience Facilitator Bryan Lavery A quintessential entrepreneur, Bryan Lavery is a chef, restaurateur, food writer, experience developer, retailer, Tourism London Board member, and member of a community of tourism innovators. In the most recent issue of the Southwest Ontario Culinary Guide, Blackfriars Bistro identifies as an authentic Farm-To-Table Experience. Specifically, it says, "The cuisine at Blackfriars combines precise technique and skills with quality, hand-selected ingredients. The restaurant supports and depends upon indie farmers, sustainable fisheries, local artisans, and craftspeople for seasonally changing offerings."    • Why are these values important to you?    Ethical eating is conscious of our food consumption choices regarding its environmental, social, and industrial impact. Simply, it means that the food we choose must minimize the harm caused to the e...
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I REMEMBER TOM

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This year for World's AIDS Day, I wanted to pay homage to Tom and a difficult time. Tom was battling AIDS and coming to terms with being an incest survivor simultaneously. More than 30 years later, I decided to look at this painful time. This story is a work in progress. I REMEMBER TOM    At twenty-one, I was a die-hard romantic in a relationship. It was the equivalent of marriage when matrimony and civil unions were not legal or legitimate options for queer men and women. The nuances of gay identity and gender roles puzzled me, and I did not understand the compulsion to attach labels to everything. Why was gay life demonized and misrepresented by a willingness to engage in casual sex? Why were we permanently reduced to our sexuality? My partner and I refrained from using terms such as "queer," "lovers," "coming out," "outed," or "in the closet" when disclosing our sexual orientation to friends, family or broader humanity. We repud...
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Ethically-grounded Economic Behaviour

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Ethically-grounded Economic Behaviour   BY BRYAN LAVERY   Farmers' Market season is over. Romaine lettuce was eight dollars a head at one of my favourite food shops, Vincenzo's in Kitchener. Cauliflower is ten dollars a head at the Covent Garden Market. With escalating grocery prices and the cost of lettuce such as romaine at an all-time high, we can say goodbye to the Caesar salad this winter. The concept of "greedflation" by Canada's largest grocery retailers has appeared as one of the most talked about concerns in the last few months. Food prices continue to increase.  We are living through a gastronomic renaissance, and more than ever, my work puts me in front of the orthodoxy of local food procurement, business incubation, culinary innovation and food start-ups advancing "local" in our food culture. Chefs and restaurateurs that genuinely support farmers and food artisans and pay close attention to the provenance of their ingredients hold a great...
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